2026-02-19
- Illinois English professor and author David Wright Faladé was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters. The honor society, whose members include MacArthur Fellows and Pulitzer Prize winners, was founded in 1936 to celebrate Texan literature and recognize exceptional literary achievement, according to the institute....
2026-02-18 - Four members of the Department of English have been selected by the College of LAS as the recipients of this year’s teaching and advising awards. Instructors Barry Hudek, Cassidy Short, and Corey Van Landingham, and academic advisor Anna Ivy were among 19 professors, graduate students, lecturers, and advisors to earn the awards. In addition to the college awards, Van Landingham and Short...
2026-01-30 - Poet Ángel García examines his disrupted family lineage in his new collection of poetry, seeking answers about where he came from and trying to fill the many gaps in his family’s story.“Indifferent Cities” is the second book by García,...
2025-12-19 - This week marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth — she was born Dec. 16, 1775 — and fans of her novels have been celebrating with tea parties, brunches, and balls. Her novels — including “Sense and Sensibility,” “Pride and Prejudice” and “Emma” — enjoy immense popularity. They are the subject of numerous academic studies and TV and film adaptations....
2025-12-12 - Kristi McDuffie has earned an LAS Academic Professional Award. McDuffie was among eight staff members and academic professionals to be honored by the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences for outstanding professional contributions. The awardees will be celebrated at a ceremony in Spring 2026. As director of rhetoric in the Department of English...
2025-11-04 - The voyage of the HMS Challenger in the 1870s was a sprawling 3-1/2-year expedition to explore the world’s oceans. The scientists aboard the vessel collected 100,000 specimens of sea creatures, discovered 5,000 new species, mapped the ocean floors and took hundreds of measurements of sea temperature and chemistry that formed the basis of the discipline of oceanography. The data collected by the...
2025-11-03 - David Wright Faladé examines race, class, and gender through the eyes of a young college woman spending time in her small Texas hometown in his new short story, “Amarillo Boulevard,” which was published in the Oct. 6 issue...
2025-10-30 - Illinois English professor Shawn Gilmore was recently featured on Slate's Decoder Ring podcast. The podcast episode explores the origins of a familiar visual trope in thrillers, mysteries, and crime dramas: a board covered in photos, newspaper clippings, and other documents — all connected by string.These boards are...
2025-10-05 - Rob Kanter believed the best education didn’t happen within four walls. Even when he stood in front of a classroom, he focused on the world beyond it.For more than a decade, Kanter (PhD, '99, English) guided students not only through course readings but across landscapes—from the tropical rainforests of Central America to the prairies and forests of Central Illinois—using his deep curiosity and...-
2025-10-01 - David Wright Faladé, professor of creative writing in the Department of English, was recently published in The New Yorker. His short story, “Amarillo Boulevard,” illustrates the complexities of identity as the story’s...
2025-08-29 - English and African American studies professor Irvin Hunt thought twice before he answered a phone call from an unknown caller, but little did he know that it was about to change everything. It came from film director Kahlil Joseph, asking Hunt if he would be interested in writing a script for his newest film...
2025-08-18 - Professor Tim Dean has been named the Frank Hodgins Chair in American Literature. With the named position, Dean is being recognized as a leading scholar in the fields of American literature, queer theory, psychoanalytic theory, and poetics. Dean has been described as a luminary, having published and edited numerous...
2025-07-07 - Angelina Correa became a believer in peer court in high school when she served as a juror in the justice program meant to give juvenile criminal offenders a second chance at reform. When Correa, a rising sophomore double majoring in political science and psychology, came to U of I, she decided to create her own...
2025-07-07 - David Miller has earned a grant from the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Miller earned his MFA in creative writing this spring from the Department of English’s Creative Writing Program.Miller, who grew up in Glencoe, Ill., will use the grant to teach English in Romania. Miller’s professional goals include teaching at the university level, and he hopes to become a more well-...
2025-06-16 - Kayla Latricia Woodard and Riley Parks, two undergraduate English majors, have been awarded Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships from the U.S. Department of State. The award will help fund study abroad programs for the two students. Woodard, from Chicago, will visit the Czech Republic. Parks, from Fisher, Ill., will travel to Thailand.The Gilman Program is a competitive, merit-based...